When asked what draws him to a given story or work, Marvel and DC comic writer Greg Pak quickly dismisses the merit ascribed to a work by a “Best Of” list. “People come out with lists of the ‘Greatest Films Ever Made’ and all that,” he muses, “and I think that’s just entirely subjective. A film that may be just a film to somebody else may be the formative film of your life.”

For Pak, those works included classic black and white films (he loved the “aesthetic”), Westerns, and outdoor adventure stories (he was Boy Scout). Pak is also especially drawn to work that reflected his experiences, or at least had similarities to them. “I paid a lot of attention whenever I was able to see non-stereotypical depictions or multi-dimensional depictions of Asian people.”

Pak’s latest and entirely creator-owned work, Kingsway West, serves a testament to this notion. The comic, released August 24, 2016, follows the narrative of a Chinese gunslinger as he treks throughout a magical Old West to find his wife. Pak uses his prowess for fantasy storytelling to give fantastical dimension to the world where Kingsway West takes place. Combining fantasy elements–particularly, the presence of a substance called “red gold” in the world of Kingsway West–with the largely looked-over history of Chinese people in the Old West allows Pak “to not worry to be beholden to actual American history… Instead, I can actually create a new anthology which plays with all the same themes that I was gonna play with before.”

Kingsway West goes back in time in more ways than one: Pak conceptualized the story over 20 years ago. “It’s a story that made a lot of sense to me because I’m an Asian-American kid who grew up in Texas. I loved Westerns, and [when] I learned about the actual history of Chinese and the Old West… my head exploded.”

So why now, and not 20 years ago? “I wanted to make Kingsway West as a feature film way back when, and that didn’t happen–one, because it’s a Western, and two, because it’s a story with Chinese and Mexican leads. At that time, I think it was hard [for] financiers to get it.”

“When I was growing up, I had that Margaret Cho experience,” he continues, “Where you’d be like, ‘Asian person on TV!’ It’d be such a shocking, unusual thing. It was a big deal. And usually, it was some embarrassing racist stereotype.”

But even thoughthere’s still much progress to be made, Pak notes that times have undoubtedly changed. “You’re starting to see it happen all over the place… Fresh Off the Boat and all those shows that have gotten green-lit recently is due to really, really hard work by really, really dedicated writers and producers. But it’s also [because] we’re getting closer to the point where it’s a no-brainer… the business people will realize that there’s money to be made by making stories with people of color as leads.”

Pak also notes that the comic industry is extremely different from the film industry because comics are “willing to take more risks.” Pak remarks, “I’ve literally never had anybody ask me if I could change the ethnicity of characters in stories I’ve pitched in the comics world.” This shows in Pak’s creation of the Korean-American character, Amadeus Cho, who recently inherited Bruce Banner’s powers to become the Totally Awesome Hulk. “At no stage during the entire process [of the creation of Amadeus] did anyone say, ‘Does he have to be Asian?’ [That] would have happened in the film industry at that time.”

While it’s easy to simply hope for the film industry to follow the comic industry’s lead in showcasing more diverse–and more reflective–stories, Pak urges aspiring creators to “devote yourself [to the story] that means the most in your heart. If you have a story and nobody else gets it, but you know that’s the story you have to tell, keep working on it until people can get it.”

For more information about Kingsway West and how you can place an order, visitkingswaywest.com.

Singer-Songwriter, and Kollab SF Alum, Tim Atlas joins Minji for this Coffee Break chat. Tim recounts moving to LA to continue his pursuit of music as well as his experiences on NBC’s The Voice as a member of both Team Gwen and Team Pharrell.

Hear more from Tim at https://www.youtube.com/user/timfergus0n

Like what you hear? subscribe to our channel for more live sessions from the Kollaboration Movement!

My government name is Edward Sun. I’m Chinese American, I was born and raised in Atlanta, I’m 22 years old. The meaning behind the phrase “Kaptivated” is that a lot of who I am today has to do with my faith. Captivated by love that God has shown me, and because of that I do a lot of what I do. The things that I talk about, the Asian American experience and who I am in general, is all wrapped up and comes out of that idea. It’s just spelled with a K so people can find me.

How did you find out about Kollaboration?

I have a friend who did Kollaboration, his name is Josh Fu he’s part of The Fu Muisc, who were competitors. Both of them went to my church, and I heard about it when they started making music, and looking through stuff that they’ve done I saw that they’ve performed at Kollaboration. I started thinking about auditioning, and then I did it. That’s when I auditioned for Kollaboration Atlanta last time. This is the second time.

How do you feel that you’ve gotten this far?

It’s crazy. I remember specifically the first time I auditioned for Kollaboration Atlanta, I remember a friend of mine asked, “what if you win?” Then another friends of mine who was there said, “You’re not gonna win.” That was a couple of years ago, and it’s really crazy to see that now I have that exact opportunity that I didn’t think I could get or have. Plus, it wasn’t even all by myself, it was the people who have been seeing me do what I’ve been doing for a long time voting for me and supporting me. It’s not just that I’ve been given the opportunity by you guys, which I really appreciate, but it’s also I never really understood how much my fans really support me. I feel so blessed.

Why did you decide to audition for Kollaboration Atlanta again?

The first time that I did it, it was a great experience. I really think I grew a lot from it and I met a lot of great people. It was the biggest show I’ve ever been to, and I always was thinking maybe I’ll try again. I think it was mostly the fact that during the first time I auditioned, I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know my musical identity, what I really wanted to accomplish with my music, and I realize that it didn’t really make sense what I was trying to communicate. What can I do with this audience, an Asian American audience, that I can’t do anywhere else? So I wrote a song about he Asian American experience and that song really aligns with Kollaboration’s mission, and does something that can only be done with this specific audience. Not only have I grown into what I believe I really know who I am now as a musician, but I think it’s just a greater purpose than just me getting greater exposure. I feel like redoing it with those things in the right place is worth doing.

How did you get started in music?

Two things happened at the same time: my older brother started rapping first, and me getting my first iPod. So I got my first iPod and started listening to a lot of rap, and one song I listen to was “Stand” by Eminem. That song made me realize how powerful hip-hop could be, so while I had that realization, I watched my brother start to rap. I had the relaxation the hip-hop is very powerful, and also anyone can do it. That kind of compelled me to do the same thing and start writing. That was around freshmen year of high school, and I started writing two songs a year. It was no big deal for me, but then I started to show my friends my music and they would all say, “You need to record a CD!” Freshman year of college they bought me the microphone, and that’s when I started doing Kaptivated.

I kind of got started my freshmen year of college, I’m a senior now, it was three years ago and my friends put together a bunch of money to buy me a microphone for my birthday. After that I’m like, “I need to take this seriously, so I’m going to do this for real.” So I started recording and then I released my first mix tape that year, and that’s when I started pursuing it for real.

How do you describe your style?

I think it’s pretty precise, it’s not like Lupe or really relaxed. I tend to be less poetic and more this is what I’m trying to say. It came from listening to a lot of specific kinds of hip hop. I guess there’s a lyrical side of hip hop and there’s a more conversational side, and I listen to those kind of rappers. For example, when I was just getting into hip-hop I listened to a lot of B.O.B. and the Cray, Logic, and Drake, and all of them just say what they’re trying to say. Like Lupe Fiasco, you have to really listen to what he’s trying to say. I think it was just what I was exposed to is what I was trying to do and imitate.

Why do you think representation in the arts is important?

I think it’s because Asians exist in America. If there were no Asian, I wouldn’t care. But because we exist, there are a lot of issues that we experience that I think are unique to us. We don’t have anyone to look up to, we don’t have anyone who is leading and how to deal with that kind of experience. If we do have those people, they’re not in media, which is the best way for us to even observe. Also, people just don’t know our experience, and because there’s no representation, you get broad misunderstandings of who we are, what we think, how we feel. That manifests itself in stuff like stereotyping and racism. Ultimately, I think it’s better for society as a whole if these people exist, they should be represented.

What’s it like being a rapper when there aren’t many Asians in the field?

Music could be made by anyone, but it feels like I have a lot of space to do what I want to do and be myself. I have a lot of freedom, as in I can only copy other people to an extent because it’s never been done. And if it has been done, it’s only been done one way. So I think that I have a very unique privilege when it comes to speaking— especially through hip hop because it’s very dense a genre. You can say a lot more in hip hop than you can in other genres and one of the biggest things about hip hop is its authenticity, more so than most other genres. The tool that I have in my hand is very powerful, and for me to be able to use it with a unique perspective for a unique audience and share a unique story, it’s great. It’s exactly what I think we need, so it’s really good to know that I’m filling a need.

You said your brother raps too, so how has it been telling your parents you both want to do this?

At first it was a lot of, “You guys have to understand this is just a hobby. You’ll never be the best so you might as well as do something else to be the best as like doctor or lawyer. But after I started putting together shows and performed at Kollaboration… I think the tipping point was more when I needed all this equipment and my parents said, “Is it a necessity? Because I’m not buying it for you.” So I worked at Apple and all of the money I got I spent on music equipment. I guess it made them realize how serious I was, and at that point they’ve been a lot more supportive. They will never really say, “we want you to do this for a living.” but they will come out to my shows and share the stuff that I post. They’ll understand that I care about it.

What’s your advice for people who want to get started but are too scared?

Yo, if you have a gift or a passion, do it no matter what. I think like what you like, and do what you want to do. If you do it well, and some areas it’s going to be harder to get full time than in other areas, but you can do it if you work hard enough. Just do it, be yourself.

For mixathon48’s Operations Lead, Nhan Vu, it’s no secret that gaining success in the music industry is a tough code to crack. “You have to know the right people, equipment costs a lot of money, you need to be part of a record label… There’s a big gap between established artists and people who are just starting out.” So how can one bridge that gap between opportunity and talent in terms of music production? That’s where mixathon48 comes in.

Founded by Nicholas Yiu and Matt Hong, mixathon48’s core mission is to promote music technology education. Their main event is a hackathon-style “mixathon,” during which participants have 48 hours to fully produce a track from start to finish. “We judge the tracks based on a list of criteria,” Nhan, Operations Lead for mixathon48, explains, “and then from there, we choose the winners and the winners get prizes.”

But mixathon48’s significance lies in more than just its main event: its focus on music production makes the organization a rare presence in the discussion on arts accessibility. “There are a lot of free resources [for music production] out there, but they’re kind of all over the place,” Nhan says. Producing music is a largely self-taught endeavor, one that requires access to expensive tools that are not easy to learn.

What’s more is that many music educators do not reflect multicultural or underserved communities who seek to learn about music. This reproduces a double barrier for many API communities, for whom the arts have often been undermined or ignored. “[For] my family, we don’t really value the arts as a legitimate form of career,” Nhan explains. “I’ve always had a passion for music, but I was always too afraid to go after that because of that fact.” The arts have long been a hard sell in API communities—a fact which contributes to underrepresentation of Asians or Asian-Americans in mainstream media.

The fact, then, that mixathon48 was founded entirely by API community members challenges the problems of inaccessibility and underrepresentation. “Although we don’t specifically target API producers, I think just having our faces out there and people seeing that ‘Hey! These are API people leading this organization’, we’re doing our part—whether it’s directly or indirectly—to making the music industry more diverse.”

Of course, Nhan says that there’s definitely more representation of Asians and Asian-Pacific Islanders in music today than there was in the past. “These days, there are a lot more API musicians, producers, DJs, things like that, a lot more prevalent now,” he notes. “If I was younger, and I saw how a Vietnamese person was a DJ, I definitely [would give] that a shot. But I didn’t see that as a kid, and so growing up I didn’t really see that as a viable option… mixathon48 is about helping people realize [that, and] helping people grow as musicians and as producers.”

And it’s more than just representation within American or U.S.-based communities: mixathon48 has a vast, global reach. Within the past year, mixathon48 has grown rapidly, at an unprecedented pace. “It started off as a contest,” Nhan says. “We’ve been around for a little over a year now, and we’ve had three events… We didn’t really expect that kind of turnout that we’ve had. People from Europe, India, [and] Asia would apply and send in tracks… People from all different parts of the world coming together to make music.”

At the heart of it all, Nhan knows that music is a universal language—and the inherent inclusivity of music is a component that the organization wants to maintain. “We’re definitely trying to be more inclusive to the global community… How do we be more inclusive? A lot of the vocal stems we provided are all English. So moving forward, how do we be more inclusive of people in other countries?”

As a newly-registered non-profit organization, mixathon48 will continue to ask these kinds of questions to expand their impact beyond the mixathon event. “My vision, personally, [is to create] an online community for early stage music producers,” Nhan states. “We’re still trying to figure out how to do that.”

Undoubtedly, though, the organization will stay true to its core: the passion for how music makes people feel and the hard work required to create it.

I’m 22 and I just graduated from University of California Irvine, half of my college career was mechanical engineering but I ended up with business economics. I decided to do this whole music thing legitimately, and all my passion goes toward that and mechanical engineering was sucking my life out of my body. I’m Chinese-Filipino, but culturally I’m fully Filipino. I’m not originally not from California, I was born and raised in New Jersey. I moved around a lot as a kid, then I came to California in the middle of my ninth grade year of high school.

How did you hear about Kollaboration?

I had a friend who won Kollaboration LA in 2013, but I didn’t think I was ready to play until this past Kollaboration. Actually, that’s a lie— I was ready to play last year, but I missed the audition. I actually know quite a few people who have played for Kollaboration but I wasn’t really ready at the time. This year, I’m actually glad I didn’t do it last year because now I feel like I’ve actually developed a sound and something that I’m proud of.

What does it mean that you’ve gotten this far?

In terms of Kollaboration, I couldn’t be more humbled to be there. I’m just glad that I was able to play. I didn’t really expect much, there’s some photos that I was pretty shocked that I won. STAR is going to be great, we have a bigger line up, it’s going to be good. I’ve been kind of going by what one of the judges at LA told me— she was explaining that when we play, it’s always as if there was nobody else in the crowd, we’d still be playing the exact same way. That’s what I want to stay true to. It’d be nice to win, but I’m honestly just grateful for the opportunity.

How did you get into music?

I started playing guitar when I was 12, my dad is really into music and my whole life I’ve been singing. I’ve always been around a lot of music, a lot of my family members play instruments and sing. It wasn’t until I moved to California where I kind of developed my sense of what I thought music was and what is was to me, the self expression and the art versus a sound. It was a lot of darker times, moving here, it was a heavy time where I was able to discover myself as a songwriter. It wasn’t until becoming a songwriter that I really fell in love with music and the ability to create something out of nothing. I love having an idea in my mind and seeing it come to fruition, having a tangible product.

Who are some of your influences?

Definitely my family, I wouldn’t be here playing music without my dad or my brothers. In terms of artists, I love old American folk songwriters. I’m kind of late to the game, but I fell in love with blues when I was 17. That’s been my bread and butter, I love to express in terms of guitar playing the most. People say I sound like Hozier, James Bay, and the guy that I love right now is Matt Corby, he’s a huge influence for me. A lot of inspiration from blues and soul, and a focus on songwriting.

Do you normally play covers or your own music?

I barely ever do covers, I write all my own music, arrange and write. I like covers, but I’m not a huge fan of playing covers because for me I lose a sense of myself in playing other people’s music. It’s kind of like this romance in playing your own music, you’ve been with it, you’ve cherished it. Especially when you’re writing, it’s really intimate because you have to keep playing the song a million times to get it right. It’s really special to me to play my own music.

What’s your advice for songwriters?

Anyone can really do it. I describe myself very much so as a songwriter, so if I’m going to be completely honest, I’d say to be aware. When you’re writing a song, you’re trying to tell a story. I think a lot of the time people forget that your melody also tells a story. If your lyrics are telling one story and your melody is telling a different story, it’s not going to go together.

How was it to release your own EP?

So the intent was not to sell records, I just wanted a tangible product to give to people to listen to or for something to hand to people. It was interesting, I learned a ton about myself as a musician. I wasn’t entirely happy with the EP, but it was great because I learned what I want my sound to be like. I learned that I’m an artist that actually sounds better live. People talk about, “I wish you could put the emotion that you portray into a record,” which now I’m working on making another record and I would love to dig deeper into how to do that. It was a low-budget EP, and I’m proud of it for sure. But I know I can always do better.

Why do you think representation in the arts is important?

I think it’s definitely something that’s been neglected, or overlooked. It’s not so much there isn’t anybody around, it’s just nobody’s paying attention or giving any opportunities. I’m all about Kollaboration and I love that they’re offering a platform for Asian Americans to play. I think we’re in the times right now, especially in America, there’s a bridge now that we can cross and we just need to make enough names to change stereotypes. At the end of the day, I really truly believe that if you’re just good, people can’t deny you. Especially as a musician, if you hone your craft, and you’re passionate, people can’t ignore the sound.

Do you have advice for people who want to get started but are too scared?

If I’m going to give advice to Asian Americans, I would say, write. A lot of the time the focus is put on covers, and we need to create original content. People will see that Asian Americans are creating, versus just like twisting. So I would love for younger Asian Americans artists who are looking for advice to think to the roots of creating art. Writing songs, composing music, it’s becoming a lost art.

I’m Filipino, I grew up in Milwaukee, went to school in Madison, Wisconsin. I moved to Chicago for music in 2000, so I’m pretty familiar with the music scene and I wanted to get more into the Asian American scene.

How’d you hear about Kollaboration?

I found Kollaboration through one of my Filipino friends, they’re kind of infiltrated in the Chicago scene, so I talked to the head guy and he wanted me on his showcase.

How does it feel that you’ve come this far?

I feel honored. Just knowing and competing with the talent we have here (in Chicago) I was pretty intimidated. I feel very lucky to do this, and I didn’t really expect that this was going to happen. I kind of just took it as it’s never going to happen, and then when it did I was just kind of shocked. I feel kind of concussed right now. I’m excited for this whole thing, I want to tell my whole family.

When did you get into music?

I’ve been playing since I was young. I played a lot when I was a child, my parents made me practice all the time, it sucked, I hated it. In college it was great, I was able to meet so many different people, people that really enjoy music, enjoy violin. It’s something that I wanted to pursue, and I knew I had the work ethic. I moved to Chicago because there was a band that I auditioned for, and I came out and started playing with them.

Has it been hard to pursue music as career?

Yeah for sure because I was on the pre-med path, I majored in micro biology in college. It was tough, but the success I had coming out of college, I was really surprised with the success I had, and I was able to make enough that I was able to make my own decisions. I feel like Asian influence and the pressure, I think it’s so extreme, the backlash is also huge. Like when I was 18 and I finally left the house, I felt like there was a beast inside of me. We’re balancing things out with my dad. I’m back in school, and he knows that I love music and that I don’t want to give that up. But you can always do more.

What was it like going from pre-med to pursuing music?

The summer after college I studied to take the MCAT, I did good enough to get back into Wisconsin for school, but I thought I’m going to try out music for a little while. Of course I was young, and the romantic idea of touring the country and getting paid to play music was so great. Now, I’m old enough it sounds like a pain in the ass. I’ve traveled a lot and it’s hard, it’s not the easiest thing in the world, and you start to miss home.

How do you describe your style?

I have influences in jazz fusion, the classical violinists, and modern music with violin. For me right now, I think I like songs. I don’t care what kind of style it is, if it’s a good song. I think that’s the kind of style I’m going for.

As a more established musician and a violinist, do you think your approach to STAR is different?

What I do is a little different because I’m not up there playing guitar and singing. The game I’m playing is different. I feel like playing guitar and singing, there’s a lot of talented singer-songwriters out there, if you’re good, you’re good and you know it. That’s something you see all the time so you can compare yourself, you can kind of etch your way into that kind of style. For me it’s hard because the sky’s the limit. I’m working so my audience doesn’t get bored, they must never get bored during a performance.

Why do you think representation in the arts is important?

I think it’s incredibly important because in pop culture, you think about Asian icons in the States, and I think I can name like three of four in the last thirty or forty years. Everyone knows like five or six Asians they can name off, and three of them are NBA players. Any culture, there’s beauty in it, in a lot of different aspects and I feel like it hasn’t been expressed. The more we can do that the better.

Advice for people who want to get started but are too scared?

Love what you do. Be patient because if you don’t have patience you can be destroyed pretty easily.

Advice for people who want to start out but don’t know how to tell their parents?

Show them that you love what you’re doing. It could be simple as if you’re a songwriter, write them a song. Whatever it is, express why you want to do that and hopefully if they see it, they’ll understand.

I’m from San Francisco, California, born and raised here. Then I decided that since I was born and raised in California, I wanted to explore what else is out there. That’s why I applied to Boston University and at BU I was just a confused child, I literally studied everything. I tried dentistry, bio, and then junior year I’m just going to business because it’s the most vague thing. Then I finally got the degree, made my parents happy, and somehow convinced them to give me time to try and do the whole music thing.

How did you hear about Kollaboration?

At BU my roommate founded the BU International Society, and asked me to come to her show. So I played a few songs, and two people from BU Taiwanese American Student Association found me and asked me to play their show. When I went to that show, and it was a collab with Kollaboration Boston. I won that and then I met Jane (Pak) and she told me about Kollaboration, the whole community, and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. There’s so many people that are so similar to me, that have the same kind of story. I just fell in love with it and wanted to be a part of it. Jane invited me to come play at the event they were having and then they nominated me to come represent Boston in LA. It was crazy, everything was a domino effect, one after the other. I was like, “Wow, this is something I should really be a part of.”

What does it mean to you’re going to perform at STAR?

It’s so funny, I was just telling my mom yesterday that this is a really big deal. It was just so new to me, I researched so much about it, and it’s a big deal so I’m super excited by it. I feel so #blessed to be the one to represent Boston, I have to much of my pride there, meeting all the people there, and getting a chance to be a part of it was just a big deal. In Boston I would do little things here or there, but I’ve never been a part of a huge competition, it’s definitely my first time feeling like I’m competing against so many people. It’s a bit nerve wracking but it’s also a bit exhilarating.

How did you get into music?

My sister sings as well so we’ve grown up with music. Both of my grandmothers sing, so they really taught us how to sing Indian music and then we picked up English music being here. When I was really young, I had this super baby guitar, so music has always been with me growing up. Even in high school my thing was choir, I was the cool choir kid, I did musicals.

What are some of your influences?

Both my parents are Indian, my mom grew up in Chicago, and my grandparents also live here. So my grandma sings all the time, in the temples and stuff like that, so she’s so good! I wish I could be that good! She sings strictly classical Indian music, stuff like Bollywood, and she taught that to me and my sister. What I try to do, since I am both, is mix the Hindi and Punjabi lyrics with English so it represents me and both cultures. I have a bunch of singles written but never played for anyone, or put them out there yet. I play quite a few of my originals when I write them, and if there’s a show I always like to mix the two.

What’s the best way to describe your style?

I would say probably low-key rebellious. Really low-key rebellious. If you meet me in person, I’m super bubbly and stuff. But because as an Asian American you have to follow a certain path that’s set up for you— engineering, doctor, and especially in the tech world, you become a computer science major— that’s just standard what you do. I feel like I am the only one that’s not on a paved path. I’m making my own path doing music. It’s hard to tell your parents, “Hey you just spend 200 grand, but I’m going to go try and pursue this and see what happens.”

Why do you think representation is important in the arts?

No one really listens to Asian American music sunless you are Asian American. I think that’s just because there isn’t really much of a representation as the should be. I think that it’s harder to reach more ears, and now that there’s so many more people coming in, there’s so much more diversity between all of us. It’s kind of cool, that I’m an Indian girl and then I see Priyanka Chopra. Your’e just like, I’m not separated, I’m not divided between being just American and being just Indian. I can can actually really blend the two. You don’t have to choose between the two which one you want to be, you can mix the two and make it your own, and so creative that other people can relate to it.

What’s your advice for people who want to get started but are too scared?

I feel like I’m still starting, but I can say what really helped me was putting myself out there. I never really put myself out there until I started putting it on social media, posting videos to YouTube, on Instagram, little things. Really getting that started, that’s what really helped me, even with my parents. That’s one of the biggest challenges for me growing up because they never really saw the opportunity in it. I started posting stuff online, and then people really liked it, and I would tell my parents. They were like, “Wow, you’re really taking on the challenge yourself.” If you do it for yourself, you kind of get it started and aren’t waiting around for something to happen, and just take the plunge. I think that’s the best thing you can do, and sometimes it can be hard, but it’s really important that it happens.

I’m a singer-songwriter, 21 years-old, half-Vietnamese and half-Chinese, I go to George Mason University in D.C. I’m studying marketing and hopefully I can work in the music industry somehow through marketing. If I’m not an artist, then I would want to be behind the scenes.

How’d you hear about Kollaboration?

I followed it for a few years, my sister told me about it, and I knew this girl named Alice Park who auditioned and got pretty far, and so I just heard it through friends. This (year) just so happened to come up and one of my friends told me, “The deadline is in like three days, you need to apply!” So I just went for it.

What does it mean that you’ve gotten this far?

It means a lot because I’m mainly doing this for the experience. I actually never thought of myself winning… I mean, I want to win. But the main point of it for me is the experience, meeting new people, and getting to know a lot more other Asian American artists who are in this industry and want to pursue this as their passion. Hopefully through this I could maybe work with people who do music production, or collab with them. But winning, ultimately, would be great.

How did you get into music?

I always had an affinity towards music from a young age, and then I started doing chorus in elementary school and all up until the end of high school. It didn’t really hit me until seventh grade (and) I started getting recognized for singing. As a middle schooler, a high school teachers asked me to be in the high school musical Les Miserables. I played Garvoche, and then from that I gained more confidence in singing. Then, at the end of eighth grade, I was following Melissa Polinar on YouTube and I really got inspired by her, so I started to pick it up and see where it took me.

What’s the best way to describe your style?

This isn’t really a genre, singer-songwriter. I’m kind of Ed Sheeran-esque, it’s more of like pop with jazz influenced vocals. I do both (original songs and covers), and at STAR I’ll probably do one original and one cover. I’m still working on what I should do, I’m not sure if I should repeat what I’ve already done for Kollaboration or steer away from that.

How do you incorporate your influences in your sound?

I follow a lot of their guitars styles, you can see a lot of Ed Sheeran, Tori Kelly, Melissa Polinar, they are only just a guitar and a voice. I look to that for influence. As for melodies, I usually go for a really easy flow— when I just play something and whatever comes to mind, I’ll sing it. I don’t think of a concept before I do it, that’s just the general feeling that I have, it’s like a real-time kind of feeling.

Why do you think representation in the arts is important?

I think it’s important because it showcases a lot of the diversity in our nation, and the world especially. In the U.S. Asian American minorities are the fastest rising group, so it makes sense for them to get showcased. It’s getting more prevalent in TV, but it’s not really hitting he music scene as much.

How do you feel since there aren’t a lot of Asian singers in the mainstream?

There’s not many Asian singers at all, it makes me kind of sad. The entertainment business mainly focuses on white, and black and Latinos, and don’t really focus on the Asian population because it’s not “popular.” You don’t see us as often in media, so we’re not going to be shown, they’re not going to put effort into promoting these new artists. I think it’s just sad, so hopefully through non-profits like Kollaboration there’s more of an opportunity to show what we can do.

Do you think it would be easier for Asian Americans who are getting started to do it independently or through the traditional route?

I think now, even though it’s been progressive through the entertainment business, I think it would be better to be independent. Also going through an agent and the industry, they want you to write about certain things. You’re not a creative as you can be. Like I said before, the music industry looks for a specific look or voice, and Asian Americans aren’t really sought after. I think doing your independent thing, growing a following, is a lot better.

Do you have advice for people who want to get started but are too scared?

Even if you don’t think you’re going to make it, determination is probably the number one thing that you have to think about. There have been doubts in my music career, and I thought as an Asian American, I wouldn’t be able to to showcase my talent. Because you don’t see people who are in the media who are like that. But you grow a following by yourself and just keep doing what you’re doing. You just have to do what you love and hopefully people will recognize your talent.

Singer-song writer, Melissa Polinar stops by to tell us some of her fun stories about her spontaneous collaboration and jam session with fellow singer-songwriter, Indie Arie. Her stories continue as she mentions how she got her foot in the business by an unexpected turn in her career.

Hear more from Melissa at https://www.youtube.com/mpolinar

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Asian representation in media has been receiving a lot of attention over the last few years. Starting with the progress made on TV by shows such as Fresh off the Boat and Master of None opening the community’s eyes to the possibilities of genuine Asian American stories being told on screen (by Asian Americans), and contrasted by the relative lack of progress in film shown by the continued whitewashing of parts that could, and some argue should, be played by Asians. While much of the conversation has been centered on the screen, there are also a growing number of producers and actors working to bring Asian American stories and characters to the stage as well. One of these leaders is Artists at Play’s Julia Cho.

A few blocks away from the Sunset Strip, Julia sits down with us in the lobby of The Lounge Theater. Her new production The Two Kids that Blow Shit Up, a play written by Carla Ching, had just opened for previews and she was graciously spending a few moments of her precious free time to talk.

Nicknamed the “Human Swiss Army Knife” by her peers, Julia is well regarded as someone who knows how to get stuff done. An actor by trade, Julia is also a founding member of Artists at Play, a Los Angeles based theatre collective made up of Asian American creative professionals.

“Artists at Play was founded by myself, Stefanie Lau, Marie-Reine Velez, and Peter Kuo.” Julia explains, “The four of us got together really because we wanted to do a play”

That play would become the collective’s first production Ching Chong Chinaman, a play by Lauren Yee. “As you can tell by the title a very subversive comedy upending Asian American stereotypes.” She laughs, “We were all theater geeks and we got together to put on that show and then things just snowballed and we realized that we really liked working together and the group was born out of that.”

Since that first production, Artists at Play have gone on to do even more productions and expanded their programs to include a summer reading and salon.

“We’re all about promoting, highlighting Asian American voices and stories on stage, and in turn providing opportunities not only for Asian American artists,” Julia says, “but making good theater and involving a diverse group of artists to help us along the way”

Artists at Play specialize in working with contemporary plays focused on Asian American narratives.

“The fact that Asian American theater exists is because we’re not as present in mainsteam American theater, I think people who aren’t familiar with that would think, oh there’s Miss Saigon and King and I,” she explains, ”but there’s so much more to Asian American theater than that. And I think at Artists at Play, we’re all about showcasing specifically Asian American stories. In the plays that we produce there’s always a fresh unique voice [and] a contemporary perspective. Our plays are not set in Asia, and it doesn’t always have to be about immigrant issues.”

Julia gives her current production of The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up as an example. The main characters, Diana and Max, are essentially “All-American kids,” but make references in their dialogues to culturally specific touchstones like Saturday school and frugal parents. Julia explained that these references were intelligently, and intentionally, planted in the play by the playwright Carla Ching “to let people know, you could cast this with white people, but you shouldn’t, because there are these clues here to inform you of these people’s specific heritage.”

The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up is a production that Julia is particularly excited about, not only because it is this year’s main stage production for Artists at Play, but also because it is the collective’s first world premiere of a work. The pressure has definitely never been higher for them.

“Usually our productions have been published works,” Julia explains, “with Carla, because she’s so present, she’s there with us every step of the way, we want to do the piece justice and we want to do right by her, so there’s definitely added pressure, but that pressure fuels us to do the best we can.”

To Julia, the pressure is worth it. “Writers like Carla Ching are people worth knowing and sharing,” Julia explains.

The Two Kids the Blow Shit Up tells the story of Max and Diana, two people brought together because of circumstances outside of their control and who can’t help but become, and stay, a part of each other’s lives.

“We jump around time from scene to scene. So they’re start at 38 as hardened bitter adults, and then we jump to when they are nine and they first meet as children, and so on and so forth,” Julia explains, “Seeing these scenes out of order but then being able to piece things together but then picking up clues from the previous scene and applying it to the next, I think there’s something really fun about that theatrically.”

To Julia and her colleagues, bringing these stories to the stage is their way of contributing to the growing conversation of representation in entertainment by showing that Asian American characters can be real human beings, and by adding to the canon of Asian American stories and characters. “There wasn’t a play like this when I was in college doing scene study classes,” Julia recalls. It’s her hope that by ushering this work into the world “young Asian American people can choose a scene from Two Kids the Blow Shit Up to perform in class that speaks to the in a truthful way and they don’t have to go to the default white playwrights.”

Staged Theater holds a special place in Julia’s heart, and she’s passionate to bring the art form to more and more people. We asked her to make a case for theater for entertainment. “It’s a big argument, especially in LA, which is a city that is so focused on TV and film,” Julia sighs, “but when it’s done well and done right, there’s something really magical about theater.”

Julia explains that the live nature of theater is really what sets it apart from anything else. “It’s all happening in front of you and it really depends on the actors, the design elements supporting their performances, and also there is some investment on the audience members’ part, they need to be in on it with us so it’s not as removed,” she explains, “we’re all in the same room breathing the same air together and there’s a certain level of trust and commitment that needs to be in every single one of us, performers and audience alike, to make this thing happen and I don’t think there’s anything like that you can recreate on film or screen.”

In addition to their annual main stage productions, and despite being a small team with limited resources, Artists at Play have also started to expand their footprint in the community. These programs include their “Spring Readings,” where they develop and showcase new works by Asian American writers (and which The Two Kids that Blow Shit Up was actually a part of prior to going into production), and their “Summer Salon,” where they take a well known play and cast it with veteran Asian American actors to show not only that such castings can be done, but also that these actors are perfectly capable of carrying the works. The latest salon featured John Cho in Donald Margulies’ Dining with Friends, actually pre-empting the summer’s popular hashtag movement, “we literally starred John Cho,” She laughs.

The success of these programs invigorate Julia, and she is optimistic about the future of Asian American Theater.

“Theater is a little behind I think, there’s a lot of talk with film right now in terms of furthering more representation of Asians and Asian Americans and I’m excited to see all these conversations happening, and I think that will eventually lead to actual tangible changes [that] I’m hoping that will trickle down to theater as well,” she explains, and she’s confident that Artists at Play can play a big part of that. “Look at all these diverse stories, if there’s just one idea you have about Asian American Theater, there’s so much more than that,” she concludes, “we hope that we can provide some new perspectives.”

“The Two Kids that Blow Shit Up” is moving into its 2nd week and final week of production at the Lounge Theater in Sunset (Address: 6201 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038), and tickets are currently available for purchase.